Pop Goes The Biker: Turf Wars #3 Read online

  I ignore him, because, quite frankly, I can’t deal with his rude shit right now.

  “You hearin’ me?”

  I stare straight ahead.

  He goes quiet for a minute and then comes over and sits beside me.

  “You know,” I say, not looking at him, “I’ve seen a lot of things out there, on the streets, when I was with my husband, and none of it scared me. In fact, I’m rarely scared.”

  “Are you scared now?”

  “No,” I say, shaking my head. “Disappointed in myself for fucking up? Yes. Angry I have not a soul in this world willing to go into bat for me? Yes. But scared? No. I’m not scared.”

  Beckett is quiet for a moment. “You’re somethin’ else, Pop tart. I’ll give you that.”

  I smirk and look to him. “Thanks Captain.”

  His mouth twitches. “Come on, let’s get this done.”

  “If I hurry, will you take me to the store so I can actually wash my hair tonight? It’s that or you’re going to have to share your shampoo. I saw it by the way, nice choice. Very floral.”

  I wish I could see his face.

  I’d like to think he was smiling, but I know he’s scowling.

  “Yeah, I’ll fuckin’ take you if you stop talkin’.”

  “Ohhh, hard bargain.”

  “Poppy ...”

  I grin. “Yes, boss.”

  We get to work and, as promised, I stay quiet.

  We get a lot done, like a fucking lot, and Beckett is true to his word and takes me to the store.

  A store two towns over.

  Safety and all that.

  I am so grateful to be able to get some essentials, there are so many things I haven’t gotten that I need. I fill my cart full of nice smelling shampoos, soaps, and washes. I get some essential cleaning items as well as heaps of fresh fruit, vegetables, and meat for my freezer. I’ve been living off crap, and my body is craving something with a little more substance. Perhaps I’ll make a nice soup that’ll warm me for a few nights.

  When I’m done, Beckett stares at the cart and then looks to me. “How the fuck do you think you’re payin’ for all of this?”

  I stare at him, blankly. “You are.”

  “That wasn’t the deal. Said I’d take you to the store, never said I’d buy you anything.”

  Well. Crap.

  I only have about fifty dollars to my name right now, and that’s only going to get a quarter of what I need.

  “I’ll pay you back,” I say, sheepishly.

  He mutters something, and we go through the checkout. He pays for all of it and doesn’t say another word as we load it into the truck and make our way back to the warehouse.

  During the drive, I ask him, “What sort of deal do you think I’m going to have to make?”

  He shrugs. “Depends on what they want. My guess, it’ll be you doin’ some runs of drugs for them. Risky runs, the runs they don’t like their men doing.”

  Jesus.

  That sounds ... terrifying.

  “I’m going to die, aren’t I?”

  I don’t plan on my voice hitching, but it does and Beckett glances at me, his face actually showing some sort of compassion. “No,” he answers. “Won’t let that happen.”

  “You don’t get a choice, Beckett. Riggs has made it very clear that I’ll do the deal, on my own, and the club won’t be involved.”

  “Riggs don’t get the final say.”

  That’s all Beckett tells me, but it’s enough to relieve some of the fear slowly building in my chest.

  I’ve been in this world a long time, but this ...

  This is too much, even for me.

  “WE KNOW WHAT THEY WANT,” Riggs says, standing in front of me as I carefully watch the massive printer in action.

  This is the final test to see if our money will come out how we would like it to.

  If it doesn’t, it’s back to square one.

  I don’t look at him as I ask, “What?”

  “They want Mateo.”

  I pause, my fingers outstretched to press a button on the machine. My heart seems to freeze, for a second, and I look up in confusion. “What?” I say, my voice a little shakier than I’d like.

  “They want your husband, Poppy.”

  I swallow the lump in my throat, and the feelings swirling around in my chest are confusing, even to me.

  I can’t stand Mateo, but he also saved my life when I had no other choice. He got me out of some serious trouble, and because of that, I owe him my life. Handing him over to the cartel, that’s low, even for me.

  “Why do they want Mateo?” I ask, straightening.

  I side eye Beckett, who is watching Riggs intently. His eyes then move to mine, as if to gauge my reaction. His expression is focused and unwavering as he watches my expression.

  “You know as well as anyone that Mateo is running a big operation, the kind of operation that steps on other people’s toes. He’s taking over, and they don’t like it. They want him gone, and that’s their deal. You hand them Mateo and you’re free.”

  A life for a life.

  I can’t think.

  I can’t even begin to process this.

  I give them Mateo’s life and keep my own.

  Or, I spare him and lose mine.

  Either way, I’m fucked.

  I die, or I live with the guilt.

  There has to be another way.

  “Surely there is something else they want? Anything else?” I say, my voice a little more frantic than I’d like.

  Riggs shakes his head. “They are adamant, that’s their offer.”

  “Why are you so against puttin’ this man down?” Beckett asks. “He’s done nothin’ for you, as far as we can see.”

  “He saved my life, Beckett. Sure, it wasn’t a good run with him, but if it weren’t for him I’d be dead. You can’t honestly expect me to just hand him over like that meant nothing.”

  “It’s him or you, which one is more important to you?”

  I glare at him. “You expect me to live with the guilt of handing someone over to die?”

  “Maybe he won’t die,” Remy, who has been quiet until this point, says. “You hand him over, he makes a deal, gets his men on it, does somethin’ to save his ass. Sounds like he’s a powerful man, sure he can handle himself.”

  “Yeah, until he finds out it was me that handed him over and I trade one target on my back for another,” I say, rolling my eyes. “This is the dumbest plan I’ve ever heard. No, I won’t tell them where Mateo is.”

  “You’re makin’ a big fuckin’ mistake, Poppy,” Riggs growls. “You don’t tell them, they’ll find you, and you’ll die. Is that what you want?”

  I shrug. “It is what it is.”

  “You in love with him or somethin’?” Beckett asks, his voice rough and low.

  “No,” I say, “but I’m not willing to live with myself if I hand him over. There has to be another way.”

  “There isn’t,” Riggs snaps.

  But, I think there could be.

  Maybe, just maybe, there is.

  Hot cop.

  6

  “Wondered how long it would take you to contact me,” Hot cop says, his voice rugged and incredibly sexy on the other end of the phone.

  It wasn’t hard to track him down—after all, he’s been after me for weeks and has made it known where I could find him. I made a few calls and boom, found him. Didn’t help that I didn’t know his name. Hot cop didn’t seem to cut it with the receptionist. I don’t know where her sense of humor went.

  “Care to finally tell me your name before we continue this little speech?” I ask, considering it best if I actually know who he is.

  “Dane.”

  Damn, Dane.

  That’s hot.

  “Okay, Dane, I need to speak to you. Something has ... come up that I could possibly use some help with. I’m not going to give you what you want, though, but I can give you something better.”

  “I’m listening,” he urges.

  “A cartel for the biker club.”

  He pauses. “Go on.”

  “You leave the club alone, and I’ll give you the big guy in the cartel that runs these areas. The choice is yours. Bring them down or bring a measly ass biker club down.”

  The biker club is far from measly ass, but they’re smart and clever, they keep themselves and their business clean. If they didn’t, Dane would have something on them by now. The fact that he’s after me for information, tells me he doesn’t have enough. Surely, he can put that aside for now, especially if it means something bigger, something more dangerous, something that’ll really give him a boost.

  “This cartel you speak of, it’s the ones currently being led by Rocco Draven?”

  Ugh.

  I hate that name.

  He is the man who is after me, the man I very accidentally stole from.

  “That’s the one.”

  “They’re a drug cartel,” Dane goes on. “Been after them for years.”

  “Well, I can give you what you want. If you agree to leave the biker club out of it.”

  “What’s in it for you, Poppy?”

  “My safety,” I murmur. “They want me, and nothing I can currently do is going to save me from that.”

  “Big operation, taking down something that size. No guarantee that if I bring them down, they won’t figure out it’s you and put a hit on your head, even in prison. They’re powerful, you gotta know that?”

  “I know that, which is why I don’t want them to know it was me. I want this done in a way that keeps me clear of it all.”

  “Don’t know how you’re going to do that.”

  “I can provide you with dirty money.”

  Dane goes quiet. “You’re making dirty money?”

  “I never said that, I said I can provide you with dirty money, money that you can link back to them. It’ll be enough to make an arrest, will it not?”

  “It would have to be found with them.”

  “We can make that happen, if you tell me just how much it would take to lock him away for a very, very long time.”

  “We get an arrest, then we can search. We need only enough to make that arrest, the rest will come easily after that. Enough to put him away for life. You just have to give me enough to make that arrest.”

  “So you agree to my terms?” I ask.

  “If you give me something good enough to bring them down, then yes, I’ll leave your little club alone. For now.”

  For now is better than nothing.

  For now might just save my life.

  For now.

  I can take for now.

  “SHOULD YOU BE IN HERE?” Eve asks, placing a coffee down in front of me and looking around, as if to check nobody is watching.

  “I’m in disguise,” I shrug. “I forced Beckett to bring me, telling him I wouldn’t do anything all day if he didn’t. So, he told me I can have an hour while he’s at the club.”

  “Your disguise is terrible,” Doris, sitting at the table beside me, pipes up. “If you’re going to disguise yourself, dear, you need to do more than just wear a hat and sunglasses. You need to dye your hair, perhaps get a nose job and some lip fillers. Then you probably need to gain or lose weight, really make them second guess.”

  God.

  That seems like a lot of work.

  “It’s only a temporary disguise, Doris.” I laugh.

  “Well, it’s still not very good.”

  I huff and touch my large straw hat. Okay, it’s not the best, but it’s better than nothing, right? Besides, for now Beckett said I’m safe because they have advised that I will be giving information on Mateo. I have a deadline of two weeks to do so, and in that time, I very much plan on getting Dane to frame them and get them off my back. The disguise is merely a precaution.

  “How are things going in the warehouse?” Eve asks, sitting down while the café is quiet.

  “It’s going.” I shrug. “Same old. Beckett is grumpy, barely talks to me and when he does it’s to abuse me. But, I feel like we’re slowly getting somewhere. Especially now I know why he’s so moody.”

  “Why?” Doris leans over her table, eyes wide.

  Eve laughs. “Yes, why?”

  “He’s seeing a married woman.”

  Eve’s eyes widen too now, and Doris shakes her head. “Oh, dear, that’s a very bad situation.”

  I’ll say.

  “Yep, the night I stayed at his place she came over. He made me hide in the bathroom but I went to listen, she is like ... full rich bitch. Top of the line, upper class, the kind of woman you’d never ever think a biker would pick. She’s going on about leaving her husband and giving her more time. He basically crumbled. He’s in love with her, no doubt about it.”

  “Poor man.” Doris shakes her head. “It’s the oldest trick in the book. Men want what they can’t have. As soon as he gets her, he’ll get bored.”

  I laugh. “I think love works slightly differently to that, Doris.”

  She shakes her head. “Mark my words, as soon as a woman like that is free and she’s with him all the time, expecting the high life, he’ll give her the flick. I’d bet on it.”

  Maybe she’s right, maybe she’s wrong, either way, Beckett is attached right now.

  “Who was she?” Eve asks, leaning closer.

  I shrug. “Her name is Becky, that’s all I know.”

  “Becky?” Doris scoffs. “And Beckett? Oh, that’s a recipe for disaster. Never date someone with a similar name to yours. One time, I went out with a man called Dorian, and it was never going to work. It had nothing to do with his incredibly small penis, which he maintained it did because he couldn’t understand why I just simply couldn’t date a man with a name so close to mine.”

  I wheeze out a laugh. “You shouldn’t judge a man by his penis size, Doris.”

  She waves a hand. “You do if that’s what you’re stuck with for the rest of your life. Women that say it doesn’t matter are lying, dear. It matters. If you’re not happy, it’ll never work. Happiness is certainly dependent on penis size.”

  “What if you like them iddy biddy?” Eve giggles.

  “Then by all means, dear, I’ll give you Dorian’s number.”

  I lose my shit laughing and shake my head. I could spend all day with Doris. All damned day.

  “Now,” Eve says between chuckles, “back to Beckett. Tell me more about this Becky chick?”

  I shrug. “There isn’t much to tell except that she’s rich, she looks like she’s rich, and she sounds like she’s rich.”

  “It’s so weird Beckett would go for someone like that.” Eve frowns.

  “Yeah, I’d like to know how they met.” I nod to myself. “There must be a good story behind it.”

  “I’ve seen him with women at the club, I’m certain of it,” Eve mutters, more to herself than anyone else.

  “Maybe not for a while?” I suggest.

  “No, come to think of it, it has been a little while.”

  “Only one way to get him over this love affair,” Doris adds. “And that’s to get underneath him.”

  I grin. “Doris, I’m not sleeping with Beckett.”

  “Why not? He’s clearly crying out for help and you’re right there, able to help.”

  I laugh. “He’s not crying for anything.”

  “He is, when men are moody it’s because they’re hurt. Help him by giving him a distraction.”

  “I’m not going to sleep with him.”

  Eve raises her brows. “I mean, it’s not a bad idea.”

  “Eve!”

  “Come on, it would do you both some good. Imagine how fun it would be working together and banging at the same time.”

  “Don’t say banging, Eve, it’s crude,” Doris chastises.

  I close my eyes and shake my head, laughing. “You two are crazy.”

  “Let it happen, dear.” Doris shrugs. “You might find it’ll solve a lot of your problems.”

  I mean, would it, though?

  It kind of could solve some things if Beckett saw me in a different light. Maybe he’d be far more willing to help a girl out.

  And ... well ... I could use some sex.

  Some hot biker sex.

  Maybe I’ll consider it.

  Maybe.

  7

  “Fuck,” Beckett growls, looking at his phone.

  “What?” I ask.

  “I’ve gotta go.”

  I blink, holding a huge sheet of uncut paper in my hands. “What do you mean you’ve got to go? We have a full night of work ahead.”

  “It’s urgent, I’ll be back later.”

  I narrow my eyes. “There are no guards tonight, I’ll be on my own.”

  “You’re safe for now, you’ll be fine. Nobody is going to come here when a deal is in place. I won’t be long, just keep workin’.”

  I frown. “It’ll take me triple the time doing it on my own. What’s so urgent you have to go right now?”

  “It’s personal.”

  Ah, Becky.

  Of course.

  I shake my head. “Whatever, Beckett. Bring me back some pizza, you owe me that.”

  He stares at me and I widen my eyes. “What?”

  “Pizza?”

  “Yes, pizza. You got a problem with that?”

  “Not a salad?”

  I narrow my eyes. “Now you’re being insulting.”

  He gives a small grin, just a tiny one, and then turns and walks out.

  “Thanks for the protection,” I call.

  “I’ll be back. I’ve got my phone.”

  Five minutes later, I’m alone.

  I put some music on and keep working. Now that I am making double the money to give Dane something to catch these guys on, I really need to work harder. I have no idea yet how I’ll plant the money on them but guarantee I will. I work until my fingers hurt and my back aches before I stop and decide I’ll take an hour break until Beckett returns.

  Headlights alert me to the fact that he’s back just as I sit down to have a drink.

  “Back already, that didn’t take two bloody hours or anything,” I yell out.

  No response.

  Rude.

  The door opens, and I get up to give him another mouthful but see it’s not Beckett coming in, but two unknown men. I’ve not seen them before, but seeing guns in their hands tells me that this is a very bad situation. I immediately take a step for my own gun, but the blond man at the front holds his up. “Don’t move.”